Today´s liberalised markets are focused on short-term return on capital, but energy infrastructure planning should be driven by the objective of climate protection.

Door locks that open with fingerprints, networked security cameras, smart light bulbs, smart washing machines: technology is transforming our homes, turning the tech dreams of yesterday into the reality of today.

There is no such thing as a perfect energy efficient process. The second law of thermodynamics states that all energy generating processes produce heat as a by-product.

Some modern systems are now using sustainable heating sources, like waste heat from power plants . Could this approach contribute to fight climate change? We report from Western Turkey where the city of Soma is taking a new approach to increase energy efficiency in a residential area.

Building with wood, straw, and hemp. Biobased materials are seeing ever more use in the construction sector, which needs to become more sustainable as it is one of the major sources of soil, air and water pollution.

Thirty-one apartment buildings comprising 140,000 m 2 of floor space: Europe’s most ambitious energy-saving renovation project is transforming Torrelago, a residential district of Valladolid in central Spain.

  In the suburbs of Valladolid, a city in central Spain, a district is at the forefront of Europe's energy transition.

Some 15.4 % of the EU population reported that they live in dwellings with a leaking roof, damp walls, floors or foundations, rot in the window frames or the floor. And some 8.7 % are unable to keep their home warm enough.

Blockchain technology enables secure trading without a centralised intermediary like an exchange. This makes it attractive not only for cryptocurrency , where it was applied first to bypass banks, but also for large decentralised energy systems with a high share of renewable energy .

At the end of June 2018 the Baltic countries and Poland came to a political agreement for synchronising the Baltic States' electricity grid with the continental European network by 2025.

Wind and solar energy is not constant and therefore a renewables-based society requires smart grids to transport this power from areas where electricity generation is currently high to those where it is low in order to meet demand.

In addition to solar, wind power is growing as a source of alternative energy, and is expected to occupy a major portion of the market by mid-century.

For most of us, any concerns about computing speed or data storage are usually to make it go faster while storing more. We hardly ever think about the enormous amounts of energy already required to power Internet servers or charge the increasing number of devices we own.

Spain is known as a land of sun and heat. But even here there are regions that have to face icy winter temperatures. In Valladolid , in the north of the country, many of the almost 300,000 inhabitants are in poorly isolated buildings built in the 1960s.

Offshore wind farms play an increasingly important role in renewable power generation. According to WindEurope, Europe now has a total installed offshore wind capacity of 15,780 MW.

From 21 to 25  May the EU Green Week is exploring ways to accelerate sustainable urban transformation.

What makes it possible to call a friend with a different cell phone provider or withdraw money securely from another bank's cashpoint? The answer is "interoperability" which refers to the capability of two or more networks, systems, devices, applications, or components to share information.

Local governments in Europe are notoriously risk averse, city council officials and industry leaders won’t hesitate to tell you.

When temperatures are low, the temptation to take long, scalding showers and turn electric heaters to the maximum is high. And not knowing how much energy we spend, when we unthinkingly do these activities, makes it difficult for us to decrease our consumption.

Home sweet home. Houses are supposed to be our nest, a shelter from the world outside. But how healthy are European homes? Nowadays most of our time is spent indoors, often at home, one reason being the current shift to “desk jobs”.